Jarden Corporation's Outdoor Solutions segment reported sales of $677.5 million for the first quarter ended March 31, up 10.3 percent compared to $614.2 million for the year ago quarter.
Segment operating earnings, meanwhile reached $50.0 million, up 25.3 percent from $39.9 million in the first quarter of 2010, demonstrating how the company has been able to boost margins through product innovation and supply chain efficiencies to counter rising commodity and other costs.
“We saw sales growth across each of our business segments, led by six percent organic growth in Jarden Outdoor Solutions,” said Martin E. Franklin, chairman and chief executive officer. “Gross margins expanded primarily due to new product introductions, efficiencies in our supply-chain and procurement functions, and contributions from acquisitions that we completed in 2010. We continued to make excellent progress combining the legacy Jarden businesses with our acquisitions, leveraging the respective business platforms and relationships to drive incremental performance across the entire Jarden portfolio.”
Jarden’s Outdoor segment manages the Abu Garcia, Aero, Berkley, Campingaz and Coleman, ExOfficio, Fenwick, Gulp!, K2, Marker, Marmot, Mitchell, Penn, Rawlings, Shakespeare, Stearns, Stren, Trilene, Volkl and Zoot brands.
